im
'0~J&
4/l./jX£*MJ;
r/iM^p^
Republican Campaign Edition for the MUlionVV
CONTAINING
m
THE REPUBLICAN" PLATFORM,
THE LIVES OP
FREMONT AND DAYTON,
WITH BEAUTIFUL STEEL PORTRAITS OP EACH.
ALSO,
.THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE,
AND THB
CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES.
BOSTON:-
PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY.
CLEVELAND, OHIO:
JEWETT, PROCTOR AND WORTHINGTON.
NEW YORK : SHELDON, BLAKEMAN AND COMPANY.
18 5 6.
Presidential Electoral Vote
OF THE FREE AND SLAVE STATES COMPARED.
We give below in a comparative table the Pres-
idential electoral vote of the Free and Slave
States. By reference to this table it will be seen
that there is a majority of fifty-six electoral votes
in favor of the Free States. With this remedy at
hand, the question now is, how much longer will
the Free States be ruled by the slave power ?
Free States. No. of Electors.
Slave States. No. of Electors.
1. Maine ....
. 8
1. Delaware . . .
3
2. New Hampshire
5
2. Maryland . . .
8
3. Vermont . . .
5
3. Virginia ....
15
4. Massachusetts .
13
4. North Carolina
10
5. Connecticut
6
5. South Carolina
8
6. Rhode Island .
4
6. Georgia ....
10
7. New York . .
35
7. Kentucky . . ,
12
8. New Jersey . .
7
8. Tennessee . . .
12
9. Pennsylvania .
27
9. Louisiana . .
6
10. Ohio ....
23
10. Mississippi . .
. 7
11. Indiana . . .
13
11, Alabama . . .
• 9
12. Illinois . .
11
12. Missouri . . .
, 9
13. Michigan . .
6
13. Arkansas . .
. 4
14. Iowa ....
4
14. Florida . . .
. 3
15. Wisconsin .
. 5
15. Texas ....
. 4
16. California .
. 4
Total
. 120
Total . . .
. 176
Free State majority,
56.
^
^Z^>^t^z^^-^t^L
/j , 52l) i^^/^ii
Republican Campaign Edition for the Million.
CONTAINING
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM,
THE LIVES OF
FREMONT AND DAYTON,
WITH BEAUTIFUL STEEL PORTRAITS OF EACH.
ALSO,
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE,
AND THE
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT AND COMPANY.
CLEVELAND, OHIO:
JEWETT, PROCTOR AND WORTHINGTON.
NEW YORK : SHELDON, BLAKEMAN AND COMPANY.
1856.
(•
CAMBRIDGE :
ALLEN AND FARNHAM, STEREOTYPERS AND PRINTERS.
PRESS OP GEO. C. RAND,
WOOD CUT AND BOOK PRINTER,
CORNHILL, BOSTON.
'
THE EEPUBLICAN PLATFOBM,
ADOPTED BY THE PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION, JUNK
17TH, 1856. A GOOD DAY FOR THE ADOPTION OP
SUCH PRINCIPLES.
This Convention of Delegates, assembled in
pursuance of a call to the people of the United
States, without regard to past political differences
or divisions, who are opposed to the repeal of the
Missouri Compromise — to the policy of the pres-
ent administration — to the extension of slavery
into tree territory; in favor of the admission of
Kansas as a free State — of restoring the action of
the Federal Government to the principles of
Washington and Jefferson, and for the purpose of
presenting candidates for the offices of President
and Vice-President, do —
Resolve, That the maintenance of the principles
promulgated in the Declaration of Independence,
and embodied in the Federal Constitution, are
essential to the preservation of our Republican
Institutions, and that the Federal Constitution, the
(3)
4 THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.
rights of the States, and the union of the States,
must and shall be preserved.
Resolved, That with our Republican fathers, we
hold it to be a self-evident truth that all men are
endowed with the inalienable right of life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness, and that the primary-
object and ulterior design of our Federal Govern-
ment is to grant these rights to all persons under
its exclusive jurisdiction. That, as our Republican
fathers, when they had abolished slavery in all our
national territory, ordained that no person shall be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law, it becomes our duty to maintain
this provision of the Constitution against all at-
tempts to violate it, for the purpose of establishing
slavery in the territories of the United States by
positive legislation, prohibiting its existence or
extension therein. That we deny the authority
of Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, of any
individual or association of individuals, to give
legal existence to slavery in any territory of the
United States, while the present Constitution shall
be maintained.
Resolved, That the Constitution confers upon
Congress sovereign power over the territories of
the United States for their government, and that
in the exercise of this power, it is both the right
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM. 5
and the imperative duty of Congress to prohibit
in the territories those twin relics of barbarism,
polygamy and slavery.
Resolved, That while the Constitution of the
United States was ordained and established by the
people " in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, pro-
vide for the common defence, promote the general
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty," and
contains ample provisions for the protection of
the life, liberty, and property of every citizen, the
dearest constitutional rights of the people of Kan-
sas have been fraudently and violently taken from
them.
Their territory has been invaded by an armed
force ;
Spurious and pretended legislative, judicial, and
executive officers have been set over them, by
whose usurped authority, sustained by the mili-
tary power of the government, tyrannical and
unconstitutional laws have been enacted and en-
forced ; •
The right of the people to keep and bear arms
has been infringed ; test oaths of an extraordinary
and entangling nature have been imposed as a
condition of exercising the right of suffrage anc^
holding office ;
6 THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.
The right of an accused person to a speedy and
public trial by an impartial jury has been denied ;
The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against un-
reasonable searches and seizures, has been vio-
lated ;
They have been deprived of life, liberty, and
property, without due process of law ; ,
That the freedom of speech and of the press
has been abridged ;
The right to choose their representatives has
been made of no effect ;
Murders, robberies, and arsons have been insti-
gated and encouraged, and the offenders have
been allowed to go unpunished ;
That all these things have been done with the
knowledge, sanction, and procurement of the pres-
ent national administration, and that for this high
crime against the Constitution, the Union, and
humanity we arraign that administration, the Pres-
ident, his advisers, agents, supporters, apologists,
and accessories, either before or after the fact,
before the country and before the world ; and that
it is our fixed purpose to bring the actual perpe-
trators of these atrocious outrages, and their ac-
complices, to a sure and condign punishment here-
after.
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM. 7
Resolved, That Kansas should be immediately
admitted as a State of this Union, with her pres-
ent free Constitution, as at once the most effectual
way of securing to her citizens the enjoyment of
the rights and privileges to which they are enti-
tled, and of ending the civil strife now raging in
her territory.
Resolved, That the highwayman's plea that
might makes right, embodied in the Ostend Cir-
cular, was in every respect unworthy of American
diplomacy, and would bring shame and dishonor
upon any government or people that gave it their
sanction.
Resolved, That a railroad to the Pacific Ocean,
by the most central practical route, is imperatively
demanded by the interests of the whole country,
and that the federal government ought to render
immediate and sufficient aid in the construction,
and as an auxiliary thereto, to the immediate con-
struction of an emigrant road on the line of the
railroad.
Resolved, That appropriations by Congress for
the improvement of rivers and harbors of a na-
tional character required for the accommodation
and security of an existing commerce, are author-
ized by the Constitution, and justified by the obli-
gations of government to protect the lives and
property of its citizens.
8 THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.
Resolved, That we invite the affiliation and co-
operation of men of all parties, however differing
from us in other respects, in support of the prin-
ciples herein declared, and believing that the
spirit of our institutions, as well as the Constitu-
tion of our country, guarantees liberty of con-
science and equality of rights among citizens, we
oppose all legislation impairing their security.
JOHN CHAELES FREMONT,
THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES.
The following sketch, of the life of this distinguished man,
who will be, if he lives, the next President of the United States,
we take from the New York Tribune.
John C. Fremont, whom the People's Con-
vention at Philadelphia have selected to head the
grand exploring expedition in search of the lost
and almost forgotten landmarks of the Constitu-
tion, is still a young man. His father, who died
when he was a child, was a Frenchman, his mother
a Virginian. He was born at Savannah on the
21st of January, 1813, and educated at Charleston,
South Carolina, where his mother, left a widow
with three children, had taken up her residence.
The circumstances of the family were exceedingly
narrow, and the childhood of Fremont was sur-
rounded by privations and difficulties which with
(9)
10 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT.
a powerful nature like his, naturally tended to de-
velop the heroic elements of his character.
At Charleston, Fremont enjoyed the instruc-
tions of Dr. John Robertson, who, in the preface
to a translation of Zenophon's Retreat of the Ten
Thousand, which he published in 1850, records
with pride the remarkable proficiency of his pupil.
In 1828 he entered the junior class of Charleston
College. After leaving which he employed him-
self for some time as a teacher of mathematics.
In 1833 he obtained that post on board the sloop-
of-war Natchez, which had been sent to Charleston
to put down the nullifiers (a purpose similar to
that for which he is now nominated for President),
and on board of her he made a cruise of two
years and a half. On his return he adopted the
profession of a surveyor and railroad engineer,
and was employed in that capacity under Captain
Williams of the Topographical Engineers in the
survey of a route from Charleston to Cincinnati.
When this survey was suspended, he accompanied
Captain Williams in a reconnoissance of the coun-
try then occupied by the Cherokees, after which he
joined M. Nicolet, a distinguished French savan in
the employ of the United States, in an exploring
expedition over the north-western prairies. He
was employed in this survey, in which he acted as
JOHN CHARLES FREMONT. 11
principal assistant, during the years 1838 and 1839,
and while absent upon it was appointed a Second
Lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engi-
neers. While reducing the materials of this sur-
vey, and preparing maps and a report, he resided
for some time at Washington, where he formed
the acquaintance of the family of Mr. Benton, re-
sulting in his marriage, in 1841, to one of Mr
Benton's daughters.
Shortly after, in May, 1842, he started on the
first of his three great exploring expeditions. This
expedition, which occupied about five months, re-
sulted in the exploration of the famous South Pass
across the Rocky Mountains, and in the ascent by
Fremont and four of his men of the Wind River
Peak, the highest summit of the Rocky Mountain
chain. The report of this exploration attracted
great attention, both at home and abroad, as well
for its unpretending modesty as for the impor-
tance of the information contained in it. This
report was scarcely published when its author
started on a second expedition designed to con-
nect the discoveries of the first one with the sur-
veys • to be made by Commodore Wilkes of the
Exploring Expedition on the Pacific coast, and
thus to embrace a connected survey of the almost
unknown regions on both sides of the Rocky
12 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT.
Mountains. The party, including thirty-nine per-
sons, started from the village of Kansas on the
29th of May, 1843, and were employed in the ex-
ploration till August of the next year. It was this
exploration that first furnished any accurate in-
formation as to the Great Salt Lake, the great
interior basin of Utah, and the mountain range of
the Sierra Nevada, and first brought to light, as it
were, the region now constituting the Territory
of Utah and the State of California.
After preparing the report of this expedition in
the spring of 1845, Fremont, now a captain, set
out on a third expedition designed to make a more
particular survey of the regions which he had pre-
viously visited. It was while engaged in this ex-
pedition, and before he had received any intima-
tion of the commencement of the war with Mexico,
that, after having himself been once ordered off
by the authorities, he was induced by the entrea-
ties of the American settlers in the valley of the Sa-
cramento, whom the Mexicans threatened to drive
out of the country, to put himself at their head.
Thus led, they defeated the Mexicans. Fremont
put himself into communication with the naval
commanders on the coast, and soon in conjunction
with Commodore Stockton, obtained complete pos-
session of California, of which, on the 24th of Au-
JOHN CHARLES FREMONT. 13
gust, he was appointed by Stockton, Military Com-
mander. The fighting, however, was not yet over.
The Californians rose in insurrection ; but the
arrival of General Kearney with his dragoons
from New Mexico, enabled the Americans, after
some hard-fought battles, to maintain themselves
in possession. Pending these operations, a com-
mission arrived for Fremont as Lieutenant- Colonel
— a proinotion which neither he nor his friends
had solicited, but which he gladly received as a
ratification on the part of the government of his
intervention, on his own responsibility, in the af-
fairs of California.
From the moment of Kearney's arrival a dis-
pute had sprung up between him and Commodore
Stockton as to the chief command. Kearney sought
to throw upon Fremont the responsibility of de-
ciding between their respective claims. This he
declined, professing his readiness, if they would
agree between themselves, to obey either ; but de-
claring his intention, till that point was settled, to
continue to obey the commander under whom he
had first placed himself, and by whom the war had
been conducted. Kearney was greatly dissatis-
fied at this, but dissembled his resentment till they
both reached Fort Leavenworth on their return
home, when he arrested Fremont for disobedi-
I
14 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT.
ence of orders and brought him to trial before a
court-martial.
As this court held that Kearney was the right-
ful commander, they found Fremont guilty of the
charges, and sentenced him to be dismissed from
the service. Mr. Polk, then President, signed the
sentence as being technically right, but at the
same time offered Fremont a new commission of
the same grade as that of which he had been
deprived. This Fremont refused, and returned a
simple citizen to private life. Thus, discharged
from the service of the government, he undertook
a fourth exploring expedition of his own, with a
view to discover a passage across the Eocky Moun-
tains southerly of the South Pass, near the head
of the Arkansas, which might serve the purpose
of a railroad communication with California. lie
started from Pueblo, on the Upper Arkansas, with
thirty-three men and a hundred and thirty-three
mules ; but, misled by his guides, all his mules and
a third of his men perished in the snows and cold
of the Sierra San Juan, and he himself arrived on
foot at Santa Fe with the loss of every thing but
his life. Not, however, to be baffled, he refitted
the expedition, and in a hundred days, after fresh
dangers, reached the banks of the Sacramento.
In the rising State of California in which he
JOHN CHARLES FREMONT. 15
had become one of the earliest American proprie-
tors by the purchase during his former visit of the
since famous Mariposa grant, Mr. Fremont took a
great interest. He was active in the formation
of the State constitution, and in securing in that
document a positive exclusion of Slavery, and was
chosen one of the first Senators to represent the
new State in Congress. A short term of two years
fell to his lot, and, owing to the delay in the ad-
mission of the State, he sat in the Senate only
one short session. On the expiration of his term
the political control of the State had passed into
new hands, of which a striking proof was given in
the choice of John B. Weller, a decided Pro-Sla-
very man, as his successor in the Senate.
Mr. Fremont now devoted himself to develop-
ing the resources of his California estate, which
had been discovered to be rich in gold ; but, in
addition to the loss of his commission, as the only
reward he had realized for his services in Califor-
nia, he now found himself greatly annoyed by
claims against him for supplies which, during his
campaign in California, had been furnished to the
United States on his private credit. During a
visit to London he was arrested on one of these
claims, and it was only after great delay that the
Government of the United States was finally
16 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT.
induced to relieve him from further annoyance
by the payment of these debts. In maintaining
his right to the Mariposa property, he was also
obliged to encounter many annoyances on the
part of the government which resisted his claim,
but finally, by repeated decisions of the Supreme
Court of the United States, he triumphed over all
of them.
Having exhibited a singular force of character
and a distinguished ability in every undertaking
to which he has applied himself, he has now been
called by the loud voice of his fellow-citizens in
almost all parts of the Union, to place himself at
the head of a new, more difficult, but at the same
time most glorious enterprise — that of rescuing
the Government and the Union from the hands of
a body of unprincipled politicians, who threaten to
subject the country to the double misery of despot-
ism and of anarchy. May he be as successful in
this as in every thing else that he has undertaken !
And that he will be, who can doubt ? for surely
every honest man in the country will hasten to aid
him with his voice and his vote.
WILLIAM LEWIS DAYTON,
THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR VICE-
PRESIDENT.
We are indebted to the able editor of the Boston Chronicle
for the following sketch of this eminent statesman.
William Lewis Dayton, the Republican
candidate for Vice-President, belongs to an old
revolutionary family of New Jersey, a State that
has produced a large number of eminent men,
whose names are imperishably recorded on the
pages of their country's history. The Daytons
were among the early settlers of New Jersey.
They were people of good standing in the colo-
nial times, and in the Revolution became conspic-
uous for their services in the patriotic cause. Elias
Dayton was a General of Brigade. His son, Jon-
athan Dayton, was conspicuous as a member of
the national legislature, and was elected speaker
of the House of Representatives in 1795. Joel
(17)
18 WILLIAM LEWIS DAYTON.
Dayton, a farmer, and not a public man, resided
at Baskenridge. His eldest son was William
Lewis Dayton, who was born on the 1 7th of
February, 1807. He was graduated at the Col-
lege of New Jersey, in 1825. He made choice of
the legal profession, but want of health prevented
his being admitted to the bar until five years later,
in 1830. He studied with Governor Vroom, one
of the first lawyers of the country. In 1835, he
was chosen a member of the Senate of New Jer-
sey, though Monmouth county, in which he re-
sided, was a strong Democratic place, and Mr.
Dayton was a thorough-going Whig. We believe
the county was never before or afterwards carried
by the Whigs. It shows how popular he must
have been to be able to cause his political oppo-
nents so completely to " conquer their prejudices,"
for in those days the lines of division were strongly
drawn between the Whigs and the Democrats.
Appointed to the chairmanship of the Judiciary
Committee, Mr. Dayton was instrumental in effect-
ing valuable legal reforms, a fact that shows his
superiority to professional influences, lawyers being
generally conservative in all their ideas, and par-
ticularly averse to changes in modes of legal pro-
cedure. The next year he was made a justice of
the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and, though
2
i
WILLIAM LEWIS DAYTON. 19
he was but twenty-nine years old, he early ob-
tained a high reputation as a jurist. No name
stands higher than his on the roll of the Judges
of New Jersey. He held the office three years,
at the end of which time he returned to the bar,
and soon became its head, as for some time before
he had been one of its most brilliant ornaments.
Mr. Dayton's career as a national statesman com-
menced in 1842, when he was in his thirty-sixth
year. Samuel L. Southard, a man of the highest
talent and reputation, and who had done much to
elevate the character of New Jersey in the na-
tional councils, died that year. At the time of his
death he was a member of the United States Sen-
ate, in which body he had served for many years.
The legislature of New Jersey not being in ses-
sion at the time, a vacancy was thus caused in that
State's delegation ; it was filled by Executive ap-
pointment, and Governor Pennington named
Judge Dayton to fill it. This appointment was
approved by the legislature, which elected Mr.
Dayton to serve out the balance of Mr. Southard's
term. That term expiring in 1845, he was re-
elected for a full term of six years. He served in
the Senate from the 6th of July, 1842, to the 4th
of March, 1851. He soon became known to the
nation as one of the ablest members of the Senate,
20 WILLIAM LEWIS DAYTON.
which then commanded the highest respect of the
people, a position which in these latter days it has
done much to forfeit by its servility to executive
power. He spoke on the various great questions
that came before the Senate, and his speeches
were remarkable for the evidences they contained
of various, extensive, and well-digested attain-
ments, their vigorous logic, and their strict per-
tinence to the subjects under discussion. No sen-
ator was more respected, or enjoyed a larger
measure of public confidence and esteem. His
retirement from the public service was a loss that
was felt, the more so that the Senate was losing
its high character through the withdrawal from it
of many of its oldest and best members. We
have understood that if President Taylor had
lived, Senator Dayton was to have been appointed
to one of the first diplomatic posts within his gift,
and doubtless he would have filled the place with
that usefulness which has marked all his official
life.
The nomination of Mr. Dayton is on all ac-
counts an excellent one. His long experience in
the Senate h'as made him familiar with the order
of proceeding in that body, and qualified him to
preside over its deliberations. His character is
*iure, and commends him to the confidence of the
WILLIAM LEWIS DAYTON. 21
people. It was due to the Whigs, so many of
whom are engaged in the movement against the
extension of slavery, that one of the nominees
should be selected from among their old leaders,
and in naming Mr. Dayton as the candidate for
the Vice-Presidency, the Philadelphia Convention
did no more than justice to a numerous and influ-
ential portion of the opposition, whose hostility to
the encroachments of slavery in past times is the
best guaranty for their present sincerity and for
their future labors being rightly directed. On the
leading question of the day, that to settle which in
favor of freedom has caused so many old political
foes to forget past quarrels, and to unite in order
the better to labor for their country's welfare, Mr.
Dayton's views are every thing that could be de-
sired. He is no sudden convert to the party of
freedom, as the views of that party concerning the
power of Congress to legislate with respect to sla-
very in the territories were entertained by him
years ago, and were boldly expressed long before
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise was thought
of. " It does seem to me," he said, in his speech
on the Treaty with Mexico, " that if there ever
were any doubts on this question as to the power
of Congress to legislate with respect to slavery in
the territories, those doubts must be held settled
22 WILLIAM LEWIS DAYTON.
by the past conduct of the government." It is
well known that President Taylor intended to
settle the disputes about slavery that he found
existing when he came into power, in a manner
which would have been very liberal to the North,
and at the same time have been strictly just to the
South. His death — the most serious loss our
country ever sustained in that way, as it opened
up the political field to a gang of political agita-
tors, who sought to make " political capital " out
of the slavery question — caused the failure of his
plans, and the triumph of the pro-slavery interest
under the lead of Northern flunkies., Mr. Dayton
was one of the most intimate and influential advis-
ers of President Taylor, in this matter, and was
first among those who were relied upon to carry
the proper measures through the Senate. The
country would never have been cursed, and in-
sulted, and degraded in the eyes of the world, by
the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, had the
views of Mr. Dayton and his friends prevailed, —
as would have been the case had President Taylor
lived. Such a man is well worthy of the votes of
all who would have something done to put a stop
to the usurpations of the slave power, and who
would have the high places of government filled
with high-minded and able statesmen. The oppo-
i
WILLIAM LEWIS DAYTON. 23
sition can carry the country if they choose to do
so. They have it in their power, through union,
to strike down the revolutionists at Washington,
and to place the government once more in the
hands of men who will administer it according to
the terms of the Constitution. With such candi-
dates as Fremont and Dayton they can unite
with perfect propriety, those candidates being the
representatives of ideas that are entertained by
three fourths of the voters of the country, and
which therefore ought to predominate in and con-
trol the councils of government. Union is vic-
tory always, but it is emphatically so in this elec-
tion, on the part of the opposition. The very fact
that the electoral system operates most unequally
against us should cause us to contend the more
earnestly, so that our success shall be the more
striking, and more the result of our labors than of
the favors of fortune.
i
THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE.
The following admirable parallelism between Washington, the
father of his country, and Fremont, the finder and pre-
server of Republics, we copy from the New York Indepen-
dent.
As our readers well know, we were not of the
number of those who urged most strenuously the
selection of Colonel Fremont by the Convention
at Philadelphia, as the standard-bearer, in the
great political campaign which is now upon us, of
those principles of justice, humanity, and liberty
to which our earnest adherence is given. While
highly appreciating, and heartily admiring, the no-
ble and signal qualities of this gentleman, we felt
a desire that if possible some well-tried Captain in
the ranks, which so long have stood unconquered
for the Right, should be selected to lead them to
the victory which is now, we trust and believe,
♦before them. But since this selection has been
made, we are led most clearly to recognize in it
the good hand of God ; and to feel, as we almost
never have felt hitherto, that Providence has raised
up, has endowed, and has trained this workman for
his office, the Man for the Hour. If the election in
November shall result, as we are well persuaded
(24)
_
THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE. 25
that it will, in placing him in the chair of the
President of these United States, then we are
compelled to say that in no one instance in all the
history of our nation, since the freight of the May-
flower was landed at Plymouth, will the guiding
and governing mind of God, interposing for our
protection, have been more clearly shown than in
raising him up to meet this crisis.
Young, unworn, entirely fresh in political life,
there are upon him no marks of past controver-
sies, there are about him no odors of past political
errors, or partisan wrongs. Of an inventive,
prompt, and discriminating mind, as all his history
shows, and now in the full and perfect prime of
every power, he is able to meet, if any man can,
the whole demand of the present emergency. Of
French extraction, on his father's side, he is yet
thoroughly an American, by birth, by training, by
his maternal ancestry, and by all his ideas of gov-
ernment and of religion. Born in Georgia, and
educated at the institutions of South Carolina, his
chosen home has still been at the West, and his
ardor for freedom has never failed or wavered.
A child of poverty, and a man of the people, his
career has been more signally heroic than that of
any other living American ; and he has won his
steady way to opulence and honor, through the
unaccustomed paths of self-denial and fortitude.
Delicate in frame, entirely modest and unas-
suming in deportment, he has inspired the love of
the stalwart and fiery pioneers of the West, as
almost no man before has done ; and his name
would now rally thousands on the borders to any
I
26 THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE.
most difficult and hazardous enterprise. Of ex-
traordinary executive and administrative powers,
he combines with these equally the tastes of the
scholar, the practised enterprise and skill of the
soldier. His name is as well known in the Old
World as in the New, And while the South has
furnished his birthplace, and the wildernesses of
the West the chosen scene of his chief exertions,
California, the youngest and wealthiest of the
States, owes to him her exploration and her sub-
sequent conquest, 'and to him in great part her
present freedom. The whole country, therefore,
and every part of it, has an interest in his name.
The young men of the country, especially, must
rally to him as their natural leader, with ready en-
thusiasm. His very name seems a watchword for
liberty ; and already crowds make the echoes ring
with the stirring refrain of Free-soil, Free-speech,
Free-men, and Fremont !
With him in the Presidential chair, the last
threat of disunion will speedily and for ever be
silenced at the South. The bravos who steal un-
suspected into the Senate-chamber, and whose
only reply to an argument is the bludgeon, will be
as whist as a London pickpocket with the po-
lice-man beside him, before the intrepid and self-
poised will of him who has faced the mountain-
snows while they were daintily dallying at home ;
of him whom Indians and Mexicans could not
scare — though with tenfold his force — now
wielding the treasury and the army of the coun-
try. Nay, with him in that chair we have the
firmest conviction that all sections will feel safe,
THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE. 27
and that speedy calm will succeed the recent
and the present agitations ; while his life and his
words give the amplest guaranty that the influence
of the government will all be employed on the
side of freedom and its benign order.
It is somewhat curious to notice the striking cor-
respondences between the history of this young
Republican Captain, and that of him whom our
fathers took as their leader, in the first great strug-
gle for Liberty on this continent. A part of these
have been noticed by the papers, and by speakers.
Others we have not seen referred to. They are
interesting and suggestive. Washington was left
in childhood, by the death of his father, to the
charge of his mother. Fremont was so likewise,
at a still earlier period, and in circumstances cer-
tainly much less auspicious. Washington had
early a passion for the sea, so strong that a mid-
shipman's warrant was obtained for him by his
friends. Fremont went to sea, and was there em-
ployed for more than two years. Washington was
introduced to public life through his service on
the frontiers, as a surveyor and civil engineer.
Fremont won his discipline and his early fame in
the same department, and by his use and practice
in it became fitted, in mind and body, to " endure,
hardness." Washington learned all that he knew
of war in Indian combats and the strife of the wil-
derness, and rose thus to the rank of Colonel in
the provincial troops. Fremont's school was the
same, and he has gained the same rank. Washing-
ton had had small experience as a legislator; until
he was called to the head of the Government. He
I
28 THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE.
was taken for his well-tried general qualities, and
not for any distinction he had achieved as a diplo-
matist or a statesman ; and here again the parallel
holds. Washington was sneered at by the men of
routine, was hated and assailed by the tories of
that day, as a soldier who had " never set a squad-
ron in the field ; " until his energy and patience
drove them all out of it. The same class of at-
tacks are now made on Fremont ; to be answered
we trust, in the same impressive way. His friends
early felt that Washington was specially fitted and
preserved of Providence to become the head of
the nation ; as Rev. Samuel Davies expressed it,
that " Providence has hitherto preserved him in
so signal a manner for some important service to
his country." The same expectation, becoming
almost a premonition, has for years been general
among the friends of Fremont. Dr. Robertson,
his early teacher, expressed it in the preface to his
edition of the Anabasis, published years ago, in
these words : " Such, my young friends, is an im-
perfect sketch of my once beloved and favorite
pupil, who may yet rise to be at the head of this
great and growing Republic. My prayer is that
he may ever be opposed to war, injustice, and op-
pression of every kind, a blessing to his country,
and an example of every noble virtue to the whole
world." Washington was called to the head of
the army at the age of forty-four ; and if Colonel
Fremont shall live to see the 4th of March next,
we confidently expect that the singular parallel
will so far be perfected !
.
COL. FREMONT'S LETTER OF ACCEPT-
ANCE.
New York, July 8, 1856.
Gentlemen — You call me to a high responsibility by
placing me in the van of a great movement of the peo-
ple of the United States, who, without regard to past
differences, are uniting in a common effort to bring
back the action of the Federal Government to the prin-
ciples of Washington and Jefferson. Comprehending
the magnitude of the trust which they have declared
themselves willing to place in my hands, and deeply
sensible to the honor which their unreserved confidence
in this threatening position of the public affairs im-
plies, I feel that I cannot better respond than by a
sincere declaration that, in the event of my election
to the Presidency, I should enter upon the execution
of its duties with a single-hearted determination to
promote the good of the whole country, and to direct
solely to this end all the power of the government,
irrespective of party issues, and regardless of sec-
tional strifes.
The declaration of principles embodied in the re-
30 col. Fremont's letter of acceptance,
solves of your Convention, expresses the sentiments
in which I have been educated, and which have been
ripened into convictions by personal observation and
experience. With this declaration and avowal, I
think it necessary to revert to only two of the sub-
jects embraced in the resolutions, and to those only
because events have surrounded them with grave and
critical circumstances, and given to them especial
importance.
I concur in the views of the Convention deprecat-
ing the foreign policy to which it adverts. The as-
sumption that we have the right to take from another
nation its domains, because we want them, is an
abandonment of the honest character which our coun-
try has acquired. To provoke hostilities by unjust
assumptions, would be to sacrifice the peace and char-
acter of the country, when all its interests might be
more certainly secured and its objects attained by
just and healing counsels, involving no loss of repu-
tation.
International embarrassments are mainly the re-
sults of a secret diplomacy, which aims to keep from
the knowledge of the people the operations of the
government. This system is inconsistent with the
character of our institutions, and is itself yielding
gradually to a more enlightened public opinion, and
to the power of a free press, which, by its broad dis-
semination of political intelligence, secures in advance
col. Fremont's letter op acceptance. 31
to the side of justice the judgment of the civilized
world. An honest, firm and open policy in our foreign
relations, would command the united support of the
nation, whose deliberate opinions it would necessarily
reflect.
Nothing is clearer in the history of our institutions
than the design of the nation in asserting its own
independence and freedom to avoid giving counte-
nance to the extension of slavery. The influence of
the small, but compact and powerful class of men in-
terested in slavery, who command one section of the
country, and wield a vast political control as a conse-
quence, in the other, is now directed to turn back this
impulse of the revolution, and reverse its principles.
The extension of slavery across the continent is the
object of the power which now rules the government,
and from this spirit has sprung those kindred wrongs
in Kansas, so truly portrayed in one of your resolu-
tions, which prove that the elements of the most ar-
bitrary governments have been vanquished by the
just theory of our own.
It would be out of place here to pledge myself to
any particular policy that may be suggested to ter-
minate the sectional controversy engendered by po-
litical animosities operating on a powerful class,
banded together by a common interest. A practical
remedy is the admission of Kansas into the Union as
a free State. The South should, in my judgment,
!
32 col. Fremont's letter of acceptance.
earnestly desire such a consummation. It would vin-
dicate its good faith ; it would correct the mistake of
the repeal, and the North, having practically the
"benefit of the agreement between the two sections,
would be satisfied, and good feeling be restored. The
measure is perfectly consistent with the honor of the
South, and vital to its interests.
That fatal act which gave birth to this purely sec-
tional strife, originating in the scheme to take from
free labor the country secured to it by a solemn cove-
nant, cannot be too soon disarmed of its pernicious
force. The only genial region of the middle lati-
tudes left to the emigrants of the Northern States for
homes, cannot be conquered from the free laborers,
who have long considered it as set apart for them in
our inheritance, without provoking a desperate strug-
gle. Whatever may be the persistence of the particular
class which seems ready to hazard everything for the
success of the unjust scheme it has partially effected,
I firmly believe that the great heart of the nation
which throbs with the patriotism of the free men of
both sections, will have power to overcome it. They
will look to the rights secured to them by the Consti-
tution of the Union, as their best safeguard from the
oppression, of the class, which by a monopoly of the
soil, and of slave labor to till it, might, in time, re-
duce them to the extremity of laboring upon the same
terms with the slaves. The great body of non-slave-
I
33
holding freemen, including those of the South, upon
whose welfare slavery is an oppression, will discover
that the power of the General Government over the
public lands may he beneficially exerted to advance
their interests and secure their independence. Know-
ing this, their suffrages will not be wanting to
maintain that authority in the Union, which is
absolutely essential to the maintenance of their own
liberties, and which has more than once indicated the
purpose of disposing of the public lands in such a
way as would make every settler upon them a free-
holder.
If the people entrust to me the administration of
the Government, the laws of Congress in relation to
the Territories will be faithfully executed. All its
authority will be exerted in aid of the National will
to re-establish the peace of the country, on the just
principles which have heretofore received the sanc-
tion of the Federal Government, of the States, and of
the people of both sections. Such a policy would
leave no aliment to that sectional party which seeks
its aggrandisement by appropriating the new terri-
tories to capital in the form of slavery, but would in-
evitably result in the triumph of free labor, the
natural capital which constitutes the real wealth of
this great country, and creates that intelligent power
in the masses alone to be relied on as the bulwark of
free institutions.
i
34: judge dayton's letter of acceptance.
Trusting that I have a heart capable of compre-
hending our "whole country with its varied interests,
and confident that patriotism exists in all parts of
the Union, I accept the nomination of your Conven-
tion in the hope that I may be enabled to serve use-
fully its cause, which I consider the cause of Con-
stitutional Freedom.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
J. C. Fremont.
To Henry S. Lane, President of the Convention.
JUDGE DAYTON'S LETTER OF ACCEPT-
ANCE.
Trenton, N. J., July 7, 1856.
Gentlemen — I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter informing me that, at a Con-
vention of Delegates, recently assembled in Phila-
delphia, I was unanimously nominated as their can-
didate for the Vice Presidency of the United States,
and requesting my acceptance of such nomination.
For the distinguished honor thus conferred, be
pleased to accept for yourselves and in behalf of the
Convention you represent, my sincere thanks.
i
JUDGE DAYTON'S LETTER OP ACCEPTANCE. 35
I have only to add, that having carefully examined
the resolutions adopted in that Convention, as indi-
cating the principles by which it was governed, I
find them, in their general features, such as have
heretofore had my hearty support. My opinions and
votes against the extension of slavery into free terri-
tory, are of record and well known. Upon that record
I am willing to stand. Certainly nothing has since
occurred which would tend to modify my opinions
previously expressed upon that subject. On the con-
trary, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise (that
greatest wrong, [portentous of mischief,) but adds
strength to the conviction, that these constant en-
croachments must be calmly, but firmly, met ; — that
this repealing Act should be itself repealed, or reme-
died by every just and constitutional means in our
power.
I very much deprecate all sectional issues. I have
not been in the past, nor shall I be in the future, in-
strumental in fostering such issues. But the repeal
of the Missouri Compromise, and, as a consequence,
the extension of slavery, are no issues raised by us ;
they are issues forced upon us, and we act but in
self-defence when we repel them. That section of
the country which presents these issues is responsible
for them ; and it is this sectionalism which has sub-
verted past compromises, and now seeks to force
slavery into Kanzas. In reference to other subjects
36
treated of in the resolutions of the Convention, I find
no general principle or rule of political conduct to
which I cannot and do not yield a cordial assent.
But while thus expressing a general concurrence in
the views of the Convention, I cannot but remember
that the Constitution gives to the Vice President
little power in matters of general legislation ; that
he has not even a vote except in special cases ; and
that his rights and duties as prescribed in that in-
strument are limited to presiding over the Senate of
the United States. Should I be elected to that high
office, it will be my pleasure, as it will be my duty,
to conduct, so far as I can, the business of that body
in such a manner as will best comport with its own
dignity ; in strict accordance with its own rules, and
with a just and courteous regard to the equal rights
and privileges of ail its members.
Accepting the nomination tendered through you, as
I now do, 1 am, gentlemen,
Very respectfully yours,
Wm. L. Dayton.
To Henry S. Lane, President of the Convention.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE,
AND
CONSTITUTION
OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
WITH ITS
AMENDMENTS.
CENSUS OF 1850.
-«-♦-►
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN P. JEWETT & COMPANY
CLEVELAND, OHIO:
JEWETT, PROCTOR & WORTHINGTON.
1856.
I
DECLARATION OP INDEPENDENCE.
When, in the course of human events, it be
comes necessary for one people to dissolve the
political bands which have connected them with
another, and to assume among the powers of the
earth the separate and equal station to which the
laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them,
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind re-
quires that they should declare the causes which
impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident — that
all men are created equal ; that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ;
that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness. That to secure these rights, gov-
ernments are instituted among men, deriving their
just powers from the consent of the governed ;
that whenever any form of government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the right of the
people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a
new government, laying its foundation on such
principles, and organizing its powers in such
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their safety and happiness. Prudence indeed will
dictate, that governments long established should
not be changed for light and transient causes,
and accordingly, all experience hath shown, that
4 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils
are sufferable, than to right themselves by abol-
ishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
Bat when a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a
design to reduce them under absolute despotism,
it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such
government, and to provide new guards for their
future security. Such has been the patient suf-
ferance of these colonies ; and such is now the
necessity which constrains the*m to alter their for-
mer systems of government. The history of the
resent king of Great Britain is a history of re-
peated injuries and usurpations, all having in
direct object, the establishment of an absolute
tyranny over these states. To prove this, let
facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws the most
wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of
immediate and pressing importance, unless sus-
pended in their operation till his assent should be
obtained ; and when so suspended, he has utterly
neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the ac-
commodation of large districts of people, unless
those people would relinquish the right of repre-
sentation in the legislature ; a right inestimable
to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at
places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from
the depository of their public records, for the sole
purpose of fatiguing them into a compliance with
his measures.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 5
He has dissolved representative houses repeat*
edly, for opposing with manly firmness his inva-
sion on the rights of the people.
He has refused for along time, after such dis-
solutions, to cause others to be elected ; whereby
the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation,
have returned to the people at large, for their
exercise : the state remaining in the mean time,
exposed to all the dangers of invasion from with-
out, and convulsions from within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population
of these states ; for that purpose obstructing the
laws for naturalization of foreigners ; refusing to
pass others to encourage their migration hither,
and raising the conditions of new appropriations
of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice,
by refusing his assent to laws for establishing
judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will
alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the
amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and
sent hither swarms of new officers to harass our
people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace,
standing armies, without the consent of our legis-
latures.
He has affected to render the military indepen-
dent of, and superior to, the civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a
jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unac-
knowledged by our laws, giving his assent to
their acts of pretended legislation.
i
6 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
For quartering- large bodies of armed troops
among us.
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from
punishment for any murders which they should
commit on the inhabitants of these states.
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the
world.
For imposing taxes on us without our consent.
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits
of trial by jury.
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for
pretended offences.
For abolishing the free system of English laws
in a neighboring province, establishing therein
an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boun-*
daries, so as to render it at once an example and
fit instrument for introducing the same absolute
rule into these colonies.
For taking away our charters, abolishing our
most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally
the forms of our governments.
For suspending our own legislatures, and de-
claring themselves invested with power to legis-
late for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declar-
ing us out of his protection, and waging war
against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts,
burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our
people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of
foreign mercenaries to complete the works of
death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun
with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarce
i
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 7
paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally
unworthy the bead of a civilized nation !
He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken
captive on the high seas, to bear arms against
their country, become the executioners of their
friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by
their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections among
J®i and has endeavored to bring on the inhabi
tants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian sava
ges, whose known rule of warfare is an un-
distinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and
conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions we have
petitioned for redress in the most humble terms ;
our repeated petitions have been answered only
by repeated injuries. A prince whose characte.
r.s thus marked by every act which may define a
tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to our
British brethren. We have warned them from
time to time of attempts by their legislature to
extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.
We have reminded them of the circumstances of
our emigration and settlement here. We have
appealed to their native justice and magnanimity,
and we have conjured them by the ties of our
common kindred to disavow these usurpations,
which would inevitably interrupt our connection
and correspondence. They too, have been deaf
to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We
must therefore acquiesce in the necessity which
denounces our separation, and hold them as w«
hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in
peace, friends.
1
8 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United
States of America, in general congress assembled,
appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for
the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name,
and by the authority of the good people of these
colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these
united colonies are, and of right ought to be
FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES ;
that they are absolved from all allegiance to the
British crown, and that all political connection
between them and the state of Great Britain, is,
and ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that as
free and independent states, they have full power
to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances,
establish commerce, and to do all other acts and
things which independent states may of right do.
And for the support of this declaration, with a
firm reliance on the protection of Divine Provi-
dence, we mutually pledge to each other, oui
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES,
Framed at Philadelphia, m 1787, by a Convention of
Delegates from the States of New Hampshire, Massa-
chusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Penn-
sylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro-
lina, South Carolina, and Georgia, — ratified by the
Convention of Eleven States, in 1788, — and went into
operation the 4th of March, 1789,
WITH THE AMENDMENTS.
We, the people of the United States, in order
to form a more perfect union, establish justice,
ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the com-
mon defence, promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and
our posterity, do ordain and establish this Con-
stitution for the United States of America.
ARTICLE I.
Section I. Legislative Powers.
1. All legislative powers herein granted, shall
be vested in a congress of the United States,
which shall consist of a senate and house of rep-
resentatives.
Section 2. — Members of House of Representatives, how
chosen. Qualification. Apportionment. Vacancies,
how filled. Officers. Impeachment.
1. The house of representatives shall be com-
posed of members chosen every second year by
!
10 CONSTITUTION OF THE
the people of the several states, and the electors
in each state shall have the qualifications requisite
for electors of the most numerous branch of the
state legislature.
2. No person shall be a representative who
shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five
years, and been seven years a citizen of the
United States, and who shall not, when elected,
be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall
be chosen.
3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be
apportioned among the several states which may
be included within this union, according to their
respective numbers, which shall be determined
by adding to the whole number of free persons,
including those bound to service for a term of
years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-
fifths of all other persons. The actual enumera-
tion shall be made within three years after the
first meeting of the congress of the United States,
and within every subsequent term of ten years, in
such manner as they shall by law direct. The
number of representatives shall not exceed one
for every thirty thousand, but each state shall
have at least one representative ; and until such
enumeration shall be made, the state of New
Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Mas-
sachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six,
New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eig-ht, Delaware
one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina
five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
4. When vacancies happen in the representa-
tion from any state, the executive authority thereof
»
UNITED STATES. 11
shall issue writs of election to fill such vacan-
cies.
5. The house of representatives shall choose
their speaker and other officers, and shall have
the sole power of impeachment.
Section III. — Senate, how chosen. Classification. Qual-
ification. Vice-President's vote. Officers. Try Im-
peachments. Judgment on Impeachment.
1. The senate of the United States shall be
composed of two senators from each state, chosen
by the legislature thereof, for six years ; and each
senator shall have one vote.
2. Immediately after they shall be assembled
in consequence of the first election, they shall be
divided as equally as may be into three classes.
The seats of the senators of the first class shall
be vacated at the expiration of the second year,
of the second class, at the expiration of the fourth
year, and of the third class, at the expiration of
the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen
every second year ; and if vacancies happen by
resignation, or otherwise, during the recess of the
legislature of any state, the executive thereof may
make temporary appointments, until the next
meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill
such vacancies.
3. No person shall be a senator, who shall not
have attained to the age of thirty years, and been
nine years a citizen of the United States, and who
shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the
state for which he shall be chosen.
4. The vice-president of the United States
shall be president of the senate, but shall have
no vote, unless they be equally divided.
<
12 CONSTITUTION OF THE
5. The senate shall choose their other officers
and also a president pro tempore, in the absence
of the vice-president, or when he shall exercise
the office of president of the United States.
6. The senate shall have the sole power to try-
all impeachments. When sitting for that pur-
pose, they shall be on oath or affirmation. When
the president of the United States is tried, the
chief justice shall preside ; and no person shall
be convicted without the concurrence of two-
thirds of the members present.
7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not
extend farther than to removal from office, and
disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of
honor, trust, or profit, under the United States ;
but the party convicted shall nevertheless be lia-
ble, and subject to, indictment, trial, judgment,
and punishment according to law.
Section IV. — Elections for Senators and Representa-
tives, how held. Congress assemble annually.
1. The times, places, and manner of holding
elections for senators and representatives, shall be
prescribed in each state by the legislature there-
of; but the congress may, at any time, by law,
make or alter such regulations, except as to the
places of choosing senators.
2. The congress shall assemble at least once
in every year, and such meeting shall be on the
first Monday in December, unless they shall by
law appoint a different day.
Section V. — Elections, by whom judged. Quorum.
Rules. Journal. Adjournment.
1. Each house shall be the judge of the elec-
UNITED STATES. 13
tions, returns, and qualifications of its own mem-
bers, and a majority of each shall constitute a
quorum to do business ; but a smaller number
may adjourn from day to day, and may be author-
ized to compel the attendance of absent members,
in such manner, and under such penalties as each
house may provide.
2. Each house may determine the rules of its
proceedings, punish its members for disorderly
behavior, and with the concurrence of two thirds,
expel a member.
3. Each house shall keep a journal of its pro-
ceedings, and from time to time publish the same,
excepting such parts as may, in their judgment,
require secrecy ; and the yeas and nays of the
members of either house on any question, shall,
at the desire of one fifth of those present, be en-
tered on the journal.
4. Neither house, during the session of con-
gress, shall, without the consent of the other,
adjourn for more than three days, nor to any
other place than that in which the two houses
shall be sitting.
Section VI. — Compensation. Privileges. Members
not appointed to offiee.
1. The senators and representatives shall re-
ceive a compensation for their services, to be
ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury
of the United States. They shall, in all cases,
except treason, felony, and breach of the peace,
be privileged from arrest during their attendance
at the session of their respective houses, and in
going to, and returning from, the same ; and for
I
14 CONSTITUTION OF THE
any speech or debate in either house, they shall
not be questioned in any other place.
2. No senator or representative shall, during
the time for which he was elected, be appointed
to any civil office under the authority of the
United States, which shall have been created,
or the emoluments whereof shall have been in-
creased during such time : and no person holding
any office under the United States, shall be a
member of either house during his continuance in
office.
Section VII. — Revenue. Bills. Orders, resolutions,
&c., to be presented to the President of the United
States for approval.
1. All bills for raising revenue, shall originate
in the house of representatives ; but the senate,
may propose, or concur with amendments, as on
other bills.
2. Every bill which shall have passed the
house of representatives and the senate, shall, be-
fore it become a law, be presented to the presi-
dent of the United States ; if he approve, he
shall sign it, but if not, he shall return it, with
his objections, to that house in which it shall
have originated, who shall enter the objections at
large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider
it. If after such reconsideration, two thirds of
that house shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be
sent, together with the objections, to the other
house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered,
and if approved by two thirds of that house, it
shall become a law. But in all such cases the
votes of both houses shall be determined bv yeas
UNITED STATES. 15
and nays, and the names of the persons voting for
and against the bill, shall be entered on the jour«
nal of each house respectively. If any bill shall
not be returned by the president within ten days,
(Sundays excepted,) after it shall have been pre-
sented to him, the same shall be a law, in like
manner as if he had signed it, unless the congress
by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which
case it shall not be a law.
3. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which
the concurrence of the senate and house of repre-
sentatives may be necessary, (except on a ques-
tion of adjournment,) shall be presented to the
president of the United States ; and before the
same shall take effect, shall be approved by him,
or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed
by two thirds of the senate and house of repre-
sentatives, according to the rules and limitations
prescribed in the case of a bill.
Section VIII. — Congress to lay Taxes ; Borrow Mon-
ey ; Regulate Commerce, Naturalization, Bankrupt-
cies, Coin, Weights, and Measures ; Punish Counter
felting- ; Create Post-Offices ; Promote Science ; Con-
stitute Courts ; Punish Piraces ; Declare War ; Raise
Armies ; Maintain a Navy ; Organize the Militia ;
have Legislation over certain Places.
1. The congress shall have power to lay and
collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay
the debts and provide for the common defence
and general welfare of the United States ; but ail
duties, imposts, and excises, shall be uniform
throughout the United States ;
2. To borrow money on the credit of the
United States ;
<
16 CONSTITUTION OF THE
3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations,
and among the several states, and with the In-
dian tribes ;
4. To establish a uniform rule of naturaliza-
tion, and uniform laws on the subject of bank-
ruptcies throughout the United States ;
5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof,
and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of
weights and measures ;
6. To provide for the punishment of counter-
feiting the securities and current coin of the
United States ;
7. To establish post-offices, and post-roads ;
8. To promote the progress of science and
useful arts, by securing for limited times to au-
thors and inventors, the exclusive right to their
respective writings and discoveries ;
9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the su-
preme court ;
10. To define and punish piracies and felonies
committed on the high seas, and offences against
the law of nations ;
11. To declare war, grant letters of marque
and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures
on land and water ;
12. To raise and support armies, but no appro-
priation of money to that use shall be for a lunger
term than two years ;
13. To provide and maintain a navy ;
14. To make rules for the government and
regulation of the land and naval forces ;
15. To provide for calling forth the militia to
execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrec-
tions, and repel invasions ;
UNITED STATES. 17
16. To provide for organizing-, arming, and
disciplining the militia, and for governing such
part of them as may be employed in the service
of the United States, reserving to the states re-
spectively, the appointment of the officers, and
the authority of training the militia according to
the discipline prescribed by congress.
17. To exercise exclusive legislation in all
cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceed-
ing ten miles* square) as may, by cession of par-
ticular states, and the acceptance of congress,
become the seat of the government of the United
States, and to exercise like authority over all
places purchased by the consent of the legislature
of the state in which the same shall be, for the
erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards,
and other needful buildings : — And
18. To make all laws which shall be neces
sary and proper for carrying into execution the
foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by
this constitution in the government of the United
States, or in any department or officer thereof.
Section IX. — Importation of persons after 1808. Ha-
beas Corpus. Attainder. Tax. No exportation duty.
No preference in Commerce or Tonna'ge. Money,
how drawn. No Titles to be granted.
1. The migration or importation of such per-
sons as any of the states now existing shall think
proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the
congress prior to the year one thousand eight
hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be im-
posed on such importation, not exceeding ten dol-
lars for each person.
2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus
2
18 CONSTITUTION OF THE
shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of
rebellion or invasion, the public safety may re-
quire it.
3. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law
shall be passed.
4. No capitation, or other direct tax, shall be
laid, unless in proportion to the census or enume-
ration herein before directed to be taken.
5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles ex-
ported from any state.
6. No preference shall be given by any regu-
lation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one
state over those of another ; nor shall vessels
bound to, or from, one state, be obliged to enter,
clear, or pay duties in another.
7. No money shall be drawn from the trea-
sury, but in consequence of appropriations made
by law ; and a regular statement and account of
the receipts and expenditures of all public money
shall be published from time to time.
8. No title of nobility shall be granted by the
United States : and no person holding any office
of profit or trust under them, shall, without the
consent of the congress, accept of any present,
emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever,
from any king, prince, or foreign state.
Section X. — States not to make Treaties, lay Imposts,
or Duty on Tonnage, &c.
1. No state shall enter into any treaty, alli-
ance, or confederation ; grant letters of marque
and reprisal ; coin money ; emit bills of credit ;
make anything but gold and silver coin a tender
in payment of debts ; pass any bill of attainder
UNITED STATES. 19
ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation
of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
2. No state shall, without the consent of the
congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or
exports, except what may be absolutely necessary
for executing its inspection laws ; and the net
produce of all duties and imposts, laid by any
state on imports or exports, shall be for the use
of the treasury of the United States ; and all such
laws shall be subject to the revision and control
of the congress.
3. No state shall, without the consent of con-
gress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or
ships of war in time of peace, enter into any
agreement or compact with another state, or with
a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actu-
ally invaded, or in such imminent danger as will
not admit of delay.
ARTICLE II.
Section I. — Executive Power. Electors, how appointed.
Process of Election. Qualifications of the President
of the United States. Vice President may officiate.
Compensation. Oath.
1. The executive power shall be vested in a
president of the United States of America. He
shall hold his office during the term of four years,
and, together with the vice-president, chosen for
the same term, be elected as follows : —
2. Each state shall appoint, in such manner as
the legislature thereof may direct, a number o-f
electors, equal to the whole number of senators
and representatives to which the state may be en-
titled in the congress ; but no senator or represen-
i
20 CONSTITUTION OF THE
tative, or person holding an office of trust or profit
under the United States, shall be appointed an
elector.
3. f [The electors shall meet in their respec-
tive states, and vote by ballot for two persons, of
whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of
the same state with themselves. And they shall
make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the
number of votes for each ; which list they shall
sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of
the government of the United States, directed to
the president of the senate. The president of the
senate shall, in the presence of the senate and
house of representatives, open all the certificates,
and the votes shall then be counted. The person
having the greatest number of votes shall be the
president, if such number be a majority of the
whole number of electors appointed ; and if there
be more than one who have such majority, and
have an equal number of votes, then the house of
representatives shall immediately choose, by bal-
lot, one of them for president ; and if no person
have a majority, then from the five highest on the
list, the said house shall, in like manner, choose
the president. But in choosing the president, the
votes shall be taken by states, the representation
from each state having one vote ; a quorum for
this purpose shall consist of a member or mem-
bers from two thirds of the states, and a majority
of all the states shall be necessary to a choice.
In every case, after the choice of the president,
* This Section was amended in 1803. See 14th Arti-
cle of Amendments, p. 31.
UNITED STATES. 21
the person having the greatest number of votes
of the electors, shall be the vice-president. But
if there should remain two or more who have
equal votes, the senate shall choose from them by
ballot the vice-president.] .
4. The congress may determine the time of
choosing the electors, and the day on which they
shall give their votes ; which day shall be the
same throughout the United States.
5. No person, except a natural born citizen, or
a citizen of the United States at the time of the
adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to
the office of president ; neither shall any person
be eligible to that office who shall not have at-
tained to the age of thirty-five years, and been
fourteen years a resident within the United States.
6. In case of removal of the president from
office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to
discharge the powers and duties of the said office,
the same shall devolve on the vice-president, and
the congress may^ by law, provide for the case
of removal, death, resignation, or inability both
of the president and vice-president, declaring
what officer shall then act as president, and such
officer shall act accordingly, until the disability
be removed, or a president shall be elected.
7. The president shall, at stated times, receive
for his services a compensation, which shall be
neither increased nor diminished during the pe-
riod for which he shall have been elected, and he
shall not receive within that period any other
emolument from the United States, or any of
them.
8. Before he enter on the execution of his
22 CONSTITUTION OF THE
office, he shall take the following oath or affir
mation : —
0. "I do solemnly swear, or affirm, that I will
faithfully execute the office of president of the
United States, and will to the best of my ability
preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of
the United States."
Section II. — Powers of the President. Make Treaties.
Appoint Officers. Vacancies in office.
1. The president shall be commander-in-chief
of the army and navy of the United States, and
of the militia of the several states, when called
into the actual service of the United States ; he
may require the opinion, in writing, of the prin-
cipal officer in each of the executive departments,
upon any subject relating to the duties of their re-
spective offices, and he shall have power to grant
reprieves and pardons for offences against the
United States, except in cases of impeachment.
2. He shall have power, by, and with, the ad-
vice and consent of the senate, to make treaties,
provided two thirds of the senators present con-
cur ; and he shall nominate, and by, and with,
the advice and consent of the senate, shall ap-
point ambassadors, other public ministers and con-
suls, judges of the supreme court, and all other
offices of the United States, whose appointments
are not herein otherwise provided for, and which
shall be established by law : but the congress
may by law vest the appointment of such inferior
officers, as they think proper, in the president
alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of de-
partments.
UNITED STATES. 23
3. The president shall have power to fill up
all vacancies that may happen during the recess
of the senate, by granting- commissions which
shall expire at the end of their next session.
Section III. — Duties of the President of the United
States.
1. He shall from time to time give to the con-
gress information of the state of the Union, and
recommend to their consideration such measures
as he shall judge necessary and expedient ; he may
on extraordinary occasions, convene both houses,
or either of them, and, in case of disagreement be-
tween them, with respect to the time of adjourn-
ment, he may adjourn them to such time as he
shall think proper ; he shall receive ambassadors
and other public ministers ; he shall take care
that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall
commission all the officers of the United States.
Section IV. — Officers removable by Impeachment.
1. The president, vice-president, and all civil
officers of the United States, shall be removed
from office on impeachment for, and conviction
of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and mis-
demeanors.
ARTICLE III.
Section I. — Judicial Powers and Tenure of Judges.
1. The judicial power of the United States, shall
be vested in one supreme court, and in such infe-
rior courts as the congress may from time to time
ordain and establish. The judges, both of the
supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their of-
24 CONSTITUTION OF THE
fices during good behavior, and shall, at stated
times, receive for their services, a compensation,
which shall not be diminished during their con-
tinuance in office.
Section II. — Extension of Judicial Power. Supreme
Court Jurisdiction. Trials by Jury.
1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases
in law and equity, arising under this constitution,
the laws of the United States, and the treaties
made, or which shall be made, under their au-
thority ; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other
public ministers, and consuls ; to all cases of
admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; to contro-
versies to which the United States shall be a
party ; to controversies between two or more
states — between a state and citizens of another
state — between citizens of different states — be-
tween citizens of the same state claiming land?
under grants of different states — and between &,
state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states,
citizens, or subjects.
2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other
public ministers, and consuls, and those in which
a state shall be a party, the supreme court shall
have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases
before mentioned, the supreme court shall have
appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact,
with such exceptions, and under such regulations,
as the congress shall make.
3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of
impeachment, shall be by jury ; and such trial
shall be held in the state where the said crimes
shall have been committed ; but when not com-
UNITED STATES. 25
mitted within any state, the trial shall be at such
place or places as the congress may by law have
directed.
Section III. — Treason.
1. Treason against the United States, shall
consist only in levying war against them, or in
adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and
comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason
unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the
same overt act, or on confession in open court.
2. The congress shall have power to declare
the punishment of treason, but no attainder of
treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeit-
ures, except during the life of the person attainted.
ARTICLE IV.
Section I. — Acts of States Accredited.
1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each
state to the public acts, records, and judicial pro-
ceedings of every other state. And the congress
maY by general laws prescribe the manner in
which such acts, records, and proceedings shall
be proved, and the effect thereof.
Section II. — Citizens' Privileges. Persons charged
with Crimes fleeing.
1. The citizens of each state shall be entitled
to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the
several states.
2. A person charged in any state with treason,
felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice,
and be found in another state, shall, on demand
of the executive authority of the state from which
he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the
state having jurisdiction of the crime.
26 CONSTITUTION OF THE
3. No person held to service or labor in one
state, under the laws thereof, escaping into an-
other, shall, in consequence of any law or regula-
tion therein, be discharged from such service or
labor, but shall be delivered up, on claim of the
party to whom such service or labor may be due.
Section III. — New States. Territories.
1. New states may be admitted by the congress
into this Union ; but no new state shall be formed
or erected within the jurisdiction of any other
state, nor any state be formed by the junction of
two or more states, or parts of the states, without
the consent of the legislatures of states con-
cerned, as well as of the congress.
2. The congress shall have power to dispose
of, and make all needful rules and regulations re-
specting the territory or other property belonging
to the United States ; and nothing in this consti-
tution shall be so construed as to prejudice any
claims of the United States, or of any particular
state.
Section IV. — States protected.
1. The United States shall guarantee to every
state in this union a republican form of govern-
ment, and shall protect each of them against in-
vasion ; and on application of the legislature, (or
of the executive, when the legislature cannot be
convened,) against domestic violence.
ARTICLE V.
Amendments, how attained.
1. The congress, whenever two thirds of both
houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose
UNITED STATES. 2*
amendments to this constitution, or on the appli-
cation of the legislatures of two thirds of the
several states, shall call a convention for propos-
ing amendments, which in either case shall be
valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this
constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of
three fourths of the several states, or by conven-
tions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the
other mode of ratification may be proposed by the
congress ; provided that no amendment which
may be made prior to the year one thousand eight
hundred and eight, shall in any manner affect the
first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the
first article ; and that no state, without its con-
sent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the
senate.
ARTICLE VI.
Debts prior to the adoption of the Constitution. Trea-
ties, law of the land. Oath or affirmation to mem-
bers.
1. All debts contracted and engagements en-
tered into, before the adoption of this constitution,
shall be as valid against the United States under
this constitution, as under the confederation.
2. This constitution, and the laws of the United
States, which shall be made in pursuance there-
of; and all treaties made, or which shall be made,
under the authority of the United States, shall be
the supreme law of the land ; and the judges in
every state shall be bound thereby, anything in
the constitution or laws of any state to the con-
trary notwithstanding.
3. The senators and representatives before
mentioned, and the members of the several state
legislatures, and all executive and judicial offi-
28 CONSTITUTION OF THE
cers, both of the United States and of the several
states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to
support this constitution : but no religious test
shall ever be required as a qualification to any
office or public trust under the United States.
ARTICLE VII.
Ratification.
1. The ratification of the conventions of nine
states, shall be sufficient for the establishment of
this constitution between the states so ratifying
the same.
Done in convention, by the unanimous consent of the
states present, the seventeenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and
eighty seven, and of the independence of the United
States of America, the twelfth. In witness whereof
we have hereunto subscribed our names.
GEO. WASHINGTON,
President and Deputy from Virginia.
New Hampshire. Pennsylvania.
John Langdon, Benjamin Franklin,
Nicholas Gilman. Thomas Mifflin,
Massachusetts. Robert Morris,
Nathaniel Gorham, George Clymer,
Rufus King. Thomas Fitzsimons,
Connecticut. Jared Ingersoll,
William Samuel Johnson, James Wilson,
Roger Sherman. Gouverneur Morris.
New York. Delaware.
Alexander Hamilton. George Reed,
New Jersey. Gunning Bedford, jun.
William Livingston, John Dickinson,
David Brearly, Richard Bassett,
William Patterson, Jacob Broom.
Tonathan Dayton.
UNITED
STATES. '
Maryland.
Hugh Williamson.
James M' Henry,
South Carolina.
Daniel of St. Tho. Jenifer,
John Rutledge,
Daniel Carroll.
Charles C. Pinckney,
Virginia.
Charles Pinckney,
John Blair,
Pierce Butler.
James Madison, jun.
Georgia,
North Carolina,
William Few,
William Blount,
Abraham Baldwin.
Richard Dobbs Spaight,
Attest : WILLIAM JACKSON, Sec.
29
AMENDMENTS.
Articles in addition to, and amendment of, the Constitu-
tion of the United States of America, proposed by
Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the seve-
ral States, pursuant to the fifth article of the original
Constitution.
ARTICLE I.
Religion. Press. Speech. Right of Petition.
Congress shall make no new law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free ex-
ercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press ; or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble, and to petition the government for a re-
dress of grievances.
ARTICLE II.
Right to bear Arms.
A well-regulated militia being necessary to the se-
curity of a free state, the right of the people to keep
and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
ARTICLE III.
No Soldier to be billeted.
No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in
any house without the consent of the owner, nor in
time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
30 CONSTITUTION OF THE
ARTICLE IV.
Unreasonable Searches prohibited.
The right of the people to be secure in their per
sons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasona-
ble searches and seizures, shall not be violated ; and
no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly
describing the place to be searched, and the persons
or things to be seized.
ARTICLE V.
Proceeding in Criminal Cases. Person and Property
sacred.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital or
otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment
or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising
in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in
actual service, in time of war or public danger ; nor
shall any person be subject, for the same offence, to
be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be
compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against
himself ; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law ; nor shall private property
be taken for public use without just compensation.
• ARTICLE VI.
Mode of Trial in Criminal Cases.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall en-
joy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an im-
partial jury of the state and district wherein the crime
shall have been committed, which district shall have
been previously ascertained by law; and to be in-
formed of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to
oe confronted with the witnesses against him ; to have
compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his fa-
vor ; and to have the assistance of counsel for his
defence. ARTICLE m
Mode of Trial in Civil Cases.
In suits at common law. where the value in con-
UNITED STATES. 31
troversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of
trial by jury shall be preserved ; and no fact tried by
a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court
of the United States, than according to the rules of
the common law.
ARTICLE VIII.
Bail. Fine. Punishments.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive
fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments
inflicted .
ARTICLE IX.
Rights.
The enumeration in the constitution of certain
rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage
others retained by the people.
ARTICLE X.
Powers reserved to the People.
The powers not delegated to the United States by
the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are
reserved to the states respectively or to the people.
ARTICLE XL
Limitation of Judicial Power.
The judicial power of the United States shall not
be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity
commenced or prosecuted against one of the United
States, by citizens of another state, or by citizens or
subjects of any foreign state.
ARTICLE XII.
Manner of electing President and Vice-President.
1. The electors shall meet in their respective States,
and vote by ballot for president and vice-president,
one of whom at least, shall not be an inhabitant of
the same state with themselves ; they shall name in
their ballots the person voted for as president, and in
distinct ballots the person voted for as vice-president,
and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted
for as president, and of all persons voted for lis vie.;-
6Z CONSTITUTION OF THE
president, and of the number of votes for each ; which
lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit, sealed,
to the seat of the government of the United States, di-
rected to the president of the senate ; the president of
the senate shall, in presence of the senate and house
of representatives, open all the certificates, and the
votes shall then be counted ; the person having the
greatest number of votes for president shall be the
president, if such number be a majority of the whole
number of electors appointed ; and if no person have
such majority, then, from the persons having the
highest numbers; not exceeding three, on the list of
those voted for as president, the house of representa-
tives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the presi-
dent. But, in choosing the president, the votes shall
be taken by states, the representation from each state
having one vote ; a quorum for this purpose shall
consist of a member or members of two thirds of the
states, and a majority of all the states shall be neces-
sary to a choice. And if the house of representatives
shall not choose a president whenever the right of
choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day
of March next following, then the vice-president shall
act as president, as in the case of the death or other
constitutional disability of the president.
2 The person having the greatest number of votes
as vice-president shall be the vice-president, if such
number be a majority of the whole number of elec-
tors appointed ; and if no person have a majority,
then, from the two highest numbers on the list, the
senate shall choose the vice-president ; a quorum for
the purpose shall consist of two thirds of the whole
number of senators, and a majority of the whole
number shall be necessary to a choice.
3. But no person constitutionally inelegible to the
office of president, shall be eligible to that of vice-
president of the United States.
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.
Years.
1. George Washington,
of Va.,
from
1789 to 1797, 8
2. John Adams,
" Mass.,
a
1797 " 1801, 4
3. Thomas Jefferson,
" Va.,
it
1801 " 1809, 8
4. James Madison,
" Va.,
it
1809 " 1817, 8
5 James Monroe,
" Va.,
it
1817 " 1825, 8
6. John Q. Adams,
** Mass.,
it
1825 « 1829, 4
7. Andrew Jackson
" Tenn.
it
1829 " 1837, 8
8. Martin Van Buren,
" N. Y.
ct
1837 « 1841, 4
9. William H.Harrison," Ohio, " 1841. Died April,
4, 1841, and was succeeded by Vice President
John Tyler, of Va., from 1841 to 1845, 4
10. James K. Polk, " Tenn., " 1845 " 1849, 4
11. Zachary Taylor, "La., " 1849. Died July
9, 1850, and was succeeded by Vice President
Millard Fillmore, of N. Y., to 1853, 4
12. Franklin Pierce, of N. H., from 1853
Reckoning to 1857, the free states have the officel8 years,
8 months and 25 days, — salaries $468,402, — while the
slave states have the office 49 years, 3 months and 5 days,
— salaries $1,231,597. And this is about the average
amount of office and money bestowed on the North, with
13,400,000 freemen, and the South with 6,400,000 free-
men, in the other principal departments.
South Carolina has 6 representatives in Congress,
while New Hampshire, with a free population greater by
34,000 has only 3 ; and Virginia has 13, while Massa-
chusetts, with a free population greater by 45,000, has
only 11 ; and Mississippi has 5, while Wisconsin, with
about 10,000 greater free population, has only 3.
The slave states, on the same basis of representation as
the free, are entitled to only 65 representatives in Con-
gress ; yet they have 90 ; i. e. 25 extra.
UNITED
STATES. NooF
Free States.
Sq. Miles.
Census op 1850. Reps.
Maine,
31,766
583,169
6
New Hampshire^
, 9,280
317,976
3
Vermont,
10,212
314,120
3
Massachusetts,
7,800
994,514
11
Pdiode Is] and,
1,300
147,545
2
Connecticut,
4,674
370,792
4
New York,
46,000
3,097,394
33
New Jersey,
8,320
489,555
5
Pennsylvania,
46,000
2,311,785
25
Ohio,
40,000
1,980,329
21
Indiana,
33,800
988,416
11
Illinois,
55,400
851,470
9
Michigan,
56,243
397,654
4
Wisconsin,
53,924
305,391
3
Iowa,
50,900
192,214
2
California,
155,980
92,597
2
611,599
13,434,921
144
Slave States.
Delaware,
2,120
91,532
1
Maryland,
11,124
583,034
6
Virginia,
61,352
1,421,661
13
North Carolina,
50,700
869,039
8
South Carolina,
30,000
668,507
6
Georgia,
58,000
906,185
8
Florida,
59,300
87,445
1
Alabama,
50,700
771,623
7
Mississippi,
47,200
606,526
5
Tennessee,
45,600
1,002,717
10
Kentucky,
38,000
982,405
10
Missouri,
67,400
682,044
7
Arkansas,
52,200
209,897
2
Louisiana,
43,000
517,162
4
Texas,
325,500
212,592
2
942,196
9,612,369 of these
90
3,204,313 are slaves.
, 144
6,408,056 free.
234
Territories.
Kansas,
Indian, s. of Ka.
Nebraska,
Minnesota,
Washington,
Oregon,
Utah,
New Mexico,
Mesilla,
Columbia dist.,
Sq. Miles.
124,800
71,000
335,800
166,000
123,000
185,000
269,200
210,000
78,000
60
1,562,860
Census of 1850.
170,000, indians.
6,077
12,093
11,380
61,547
10,000, mostly indians
51,687
143,734
indians not
reckoned.
Total, 3,116,655 23,190,074
N. B. The above shows that the free states (not includ-
ing California, whose political power is ever on the side
of slavery), having a population of 13,432,324, have only
455,619 square miles ; while the slave states, having a
free population of about 6,400,000, have 942,196 square
miles. This gives in the free states 29i, and in the slave
states about 6J, free persons to the square mile.
A great reason why the slave -holders are so tenacious
of slavery, is, that it gives them great political power,
and enables them, by the aid of their allies, to control
the north, and to use the purse and sword of the nation
for their own purposes ; that is, to make war for acquir-
ing territory still more to extend slavery and increase
their own power. To show their unequal power, take a
representative district in South Carolina, having a free
population of 5,800 of whom 500, are slaveholders, having
each 300 slaves and 5 members of their own families ;
making 150,000, and 3,000 whites, equal to 153,000 ; and
2,800 non-slave-holders, of whom 400 are voters. Of the
500 slave-holders, 200 are women and minors, and 300
are voters, making in the district 700 voters who elect a
representative to Congress, and wield as much power in
national matters as a district in New England having
93,423 people, and 14,000 voters. So 700 South Carolina
voters equal 14,000 New England voters ; that is, 1
equals 20.
SUGGESTIONS.
1st. A thorough knowledge of the Constitution is im
portant to every citizen. Without it, no one can wisely
choose men duly fitted for office.
2d. Common men are competent to understand the con-
stitution. They "ordained and established" it; and
surely common men are able to know what they meant
in all its parts.
3d. They meant just what they said ; no more, no less.
4th. They were consistent. After plainly declaring
their purposes as to "union," "justice," "the general
welfare," and "the blessings of liberty to ourselves and
our posterity," they did nothing contrary to these ends.
So no part must be so construed as to conflict with these
ends.
5th. The constitution being the basis of national law,
its terms must be taken in the sense usual in other legal
instruments. Thus, in Art. I., Sec. 2, IT 3, the term
" free " is to be taken in its political sense ; that is, en-
dowed with franchises ; and not, as it often means, unre-
strained. Being used here as in other political papers,
it distinguishes citizens from foreigners or aliens. Thus,
a citizen is counted as one, but an alien as three-fifths
of one.
So the phrases, "held to service,"— Art. 4, Sec. 2,
IT 3, and "bound to service," — Art. 1, Sec. 2, IF 3, are
legal phrases, and used in the same sense as in deeds,
both meaning the same, and are applied to the very
same persons; namely, those "bound" and "held "by
contract signed by themselves or their legal guardians,
and stating the consideration and time ; that is, the term
of years for which they are thus " bound " and "held ; "
and these phrases cannot be applied to others without
jnanifest wrong, as well as outrage, to the laws of lan-
guage and the rules of law. The "bound to service"
were the same as the " held to service," and were all free
persons, as indented apprentices, indented servants, re-
demptioners, and others bound by contract, not slaves, who
are not "bound" at all, but kept as property, and in the
words of South Carolina, " deemed chattels personal to all
intents and purposes. "
RThe Reaction against Van Buren and Pierce.
: The following table, from the New York Herald,
shows the terrible reaction against Franklin Pierce,
as compared with that which overthrew Van Buren
in 1840.
It will be seen that Van Buren was elected in 1836,
rby a majority of about 27,000, and at no time during
his administration did the popular majority against
him reach over 100,000. Yet in 1840 he was de-
feated by 153,000.
Mr. Pierce was elected in 1852 by a majority of
63,000, and the majority has steadily increased against
him, from 67,000 in 1853, to 303,000 in 1855. Now
with the same influences working against Buchanan,
which have caused the reaction against Pierce, we
ask, what possible chance has he for getting within
500,000 of an election ?
Martin Van Buren.
1836. — Democratic majority in Presidential election, 27,538
1837. — Aggregate opposition majority, State elections, 94,026
1833.— " " " " " 58,540
1839. — Democratic majority, resnlting from a despe-
rate effort, 30,429
1840. — Presidential election, opposition majority, . 153,590
Franklin Pierce.
1852. — Presidential election, democratic majority, . 63,170
1853. — State elections, aggregate opposition majority, 67,430
1854.— « " " « » 226,950
1855.— " " " « " 303,927
1/.A003. t>S<t.OS£H
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FOR ALL FREMONT CLUBS, AND FOR ALL TILE FRIENDS
OF FREEDOM TO CIRCULATE.
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44 " 44 $25 per hundred.
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An admirable picture of the country and its people. Price
50 cents.
Wcfo f&ap of Kansas.
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Price 50 cents.
ALSO,— A NEAT LITTLE VOLUME FOR EVERY MAN TO
READ AND CIRCULATE.
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and Dayton, with their portraits, the Declaration of Inde
pendence, the Constitution of the United States, and the
Census of 1850.
Price, single, 15 cents ; per hundred, $10 ; per thousand, $85.
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